But when was the last time Bradford stood behind any officer that was not due to a photo op?
And you are only assuming the arrests were illegal. There have been allegations made, which are being investigated.
Personally, I think a Grand Jury should be convened to decide this issue, once and for all, based on evidence and hard facts instead of rhetoric.
You're right about the illegal arrests. It's more than an assumption on my part, though. It's my professional opinion. The arrests have not been ruled as such, yet, so I should have qualified my statement about them.
Your suggestion about a grand jury is a good one, and it would not surprise me to learn that one is already doing so. We know that the District Attorney said he would investigate, and a grand jury is his favorite and most effective tool to do so.
In case you haven't noticed, the chief has already admitted the HPD does not have affidavits (from K-Mart and Sonic) that would make the arrests legal. And even if they do scrounge up affidavits, he has admitted that the arrests violated HPD's own policy of only arresting people that refuse to leave.
Yes, the investigation continues. But, there's already enough information to make Dog Gone's assumption a safe one.
Personally, I think a Grand Jury should be convened to decide this issue, once and for all, based on evidence and hard facts instead of rhetoric.
I can't find the article at the moment, but that's exactly what the district attorney is planning to do, once the investigation is complete.
However, it will probably be only to evaluate the actions by the HPD. I don't think the "attempted trespassing" arrests are going to make it that far. I expect the charges will be dropped by the prosecutor -- even for those who pled guilty to avoid a night in jail -- after he realizes there were no legal grounds for the arrests.